They Also Served:
Actors with WWII Military Records

This is a page started on the Combat! web site on January 8, 2002. As I build
this, I hope this to be a reference of actors and other entertainers who served in uniform
in WWII, with details about their war records. It started with just two detailed
biographies. Others to follow. If you have verified information about an actor's war
record, please contact me and I'd love to include it on the site. Full credit and bylines
for all authored works.

Eddie Albert - US Navy. Drove Amtracks in several Pacific invasions. He
served in the landings at Saipan in 1943, where he rescued wounded and stranded Marines
from the beachhead. At Tarawa, he was wounded and lost most of his hearing and earned the
Bronze Star.(He appeared in the Combat! episode "Doughboy")

Ernest Borgnine
he served in the U.S. Navy for twelve years, joining before WWII.

Mel Brooks (Melvin Kaminsky) joined army in WWII and
became a combat engineer. Cleared German mines after the Battle of the Bulge. He organized
shows for the US troops, and when the German army began transmitting propaganda over
loudspeakers Brooks is said to have replied with a version of Al Jolson's
'Toot-toot-tootsie'. (Information from BBC H2G2.)

Art Carney - US Army. Carney went to Normandy in July of 1944 as
a replacement to the 28th Division in position around St Lô. He was part of a 30 calibre
machine gun squad. On 15 August 1944 he had just taken up his position and was hit in the
right leg by mortar shrapnel. After receiving field treatment, he was sent back to Britain
and then the US. He once said of his military career, "Never fired a shot and maybe
never wanted to. I really cost the government money." [source Osprey Military
Journal]

Julia Child served with the OSS (Office of Strategic Services) in
Ceylon and China during WWII. [Source: They Also Served by Scott Baron]

Jackie Coogan - US Army Air Corps. Enlisted in Army March 1941.
After Pearl Harbor, requested transfer to Air Corps as a glider pilot because of his
civilian flying experience. After graduating from Glider School, he was made a Flight
Officer and volunteered for hazardous duty with the 1st Air Commando Group. In Dec.
1943, the unit was sent to India where, by using CG-4A gliders, it airlifted crack British
troops under Gen. Orde Wingate during the night aerial invasion of Burma (Mar. 5, 1944),
landing them in a small jungle clearing 100 miles behind Japanese lines. [Source:
US Air Force museum - www.wpafb.af.mil]

Tony Curtis - US Navy joined 1943 at age 17. In Tokyo Bay he watched the
surrender ceremonies from the Signal Bridge of the USS Proteus. [Source The Tender Tale]

Charles Durning - US Army. Durning landed at Omaha Beach in the
D-Day invasion. He survived the landing, but was wounded in an ambush during the Battle of
the Bulge. He was captured, escaped, and narrowly missed assassination at the Malmedy
Massacre. He won three Purple Hearts and the Silver Star. He still carries his memories
and battle fatigue to this day. [source Osprey Military Journal]

Douglas Fairbanks Jr. - US Navy. He joined the naval reserves before
the war. During the war he served on the Battleship Massachuesetts and was a
Commando raider sent on several land attack missions. He retired from the reserves, years
later, as a full Captain. He wrote about his war years in the book "A Hell of a War" which also covers
his duties in helping organize the forerunners of today's Navy Seals.

Henry Fonda - US Navy. Bronze Star for Valor.

Glenn Ford - US Navy. In addition to his WWII service, he served in the
reserves during the Korean War and the Viet Nam War. He retired as a Captain in the US
Naval Reserve. [Information provided by Tom Mischke, Commander, USNR (ret.)]

Clark Gable - Captain, US Army Air Corps. Although beyond draft age, Clark Gable
enlisted as a private in the Air Corps on Aug. 12, 1942 at Los Angeles. He attended
Officers' Candidate School at Miami Beach and graduated as a second lieutenant. He then
attended aerial gunnery school and in Feb. 1943, on personal orders from Gen. Arnold, went
to England to make a motion picture of aerial gunners in action. He was assigned to the
351st Bomb Group at Polebrook and although neither ordered nor expected to do so, flew
operational missions over Europe in B-17s to obtain the combat film footage he believed
was required for producing the movie entitled "Combat America." Gable returned
to the U.S. in Oct. 1943 and was relieved from active duty as a major on Jun. 12, 1944 at
his own request, since he was over age for combat. [Source: US Air Force
museum - wpafb.af.mil]

Bob Keeshan- ("Captain Kangaroo") U.S. Marines,
enlisted two weeks before his 18th birthday. He saw no combat because his enlistment was
just two months before the bombing of Hiroshima [Source snopes.com]

Brian Keith - USMC, Aerial gunner [Source: Internet Movie Database]

George Kennedy - US Army, served 16 Years [Source: Internet Movie
Database]

Werner Klemperer - US Army [Source: Internet Movie Database]

Ted Knight - "From what I have found in research, Ted was a Combat Engineer and thus found himself in one of the early units to enter Berlin AFTER the Russians had secured it. Remember, Eisenhower declared Berlin to be merely a "prestige objective" and cancelled plans to airdrop the 82nd Airborne onto Tempelhof Airfield, leaving the taking of Berlin to our Soviet allies. As far as Knight's "bronze stars", they actually were "battle stars" awarded for campaign participation and added to the European-African-Middle Eastern Theater Medal (EAM). My father, who served with Third Army as a Machine Gunner T/5, had five battle stars for his EAM medal. This is not taking anything away from the late Mr. Knight. But battle stars did not signify any particular individual act of bravery or conspicuous gallantry under fire, those acts were rewarded by medals such as the Soldier's Medal, the Bronze Star (first awarded in 1944) or the Silver Star and, of course, higher awards, such as the Distinguished Service Medal, Distinguished Service Cross and Medal of Honor. Of the various obits, including those in the entertainment business (of which I work) I checked, I find no mention of any particular awards for gallantry, although it is is possible he did earn some. As an aside, another guest star, the late Neville Brand, was in fact the fifth most decorated soldier in the Army during the war. He was the sergeant who cared more for his pigeons than Saunder's squad in one episode."
information provided by Dana Eugene Creasy

Jason Robards Jr - US Navy. He was a radioman on duty at Pearl
Harbor during the Japanese attack. He wrote about his experiences in A Hell of a War.

Ronald Reagan - Captain, US Army Air Corps. Because of a
severe hearing loss, he was not allowed any flying duties. However, he appeared in
training films. Prior to the war, he was a cavalry officer in the Nebraska National
Guard.

Carl Reiner Entered army In 1942 and trained as a
radio operator. He later studied French on assignment at Georgetown University to become
an interpreter, but became a teletype operator in the Signal Corps where, on the way to
Iwo Jima from Hawaii, was assigned to Maurice Evans' Special Entertainment Unit. For 18
months, he toured the South Pacific as a comedian in GI reviews. (Info from the
DickVanDykeShow.com)

Don Rickles - US Navy. Destroyer duty. He has said of one
deployment, "It was so hot and humid, the crew rotted."

Andy Rooney - (okay,
not an actor, but he is a TV personality) Sergeant, US Army. Early in war served with
artillery regiment assigned to England. Joined Stars And Stripes in London. In 1943,
Rooney is among first correspondents allowed aboard B-17 bombers attacking Germany. He
wrote of his war experiences in the book My
War.

Mickey Rooney - US Army. PFC. Served 21 months with a unit that entertained the
troops [Source: Internet Movie Database]

Judge Wapner of The People's Court was saved from a sniper's bullet
when it lodged in a can of tuna he was carrying while an Army officer in the Pacific [Source:
They Also Served]

Eli Wallach Sergeant
US Army Medical Corps as an admin clerk.

Jack
Warden Served in the 101st Airborne during WWII.

James Whitmore - USMC. WWII interrupted his pre-law studies at Yale. He received
his degree while at boot camp and served as an officer in the Marine Corps. [Source:
actor's publicity material](He appeared in the Combat! episode "The Cassock")

Actors who served during other times:

Alan Bates - Royal Air Force, Humphrey Bogart - US Navy,
wounded in World War One, tried to enlist in WWII but was turned down because of his age, Michael
Caine - Royal Fusiliers, Sean Connery - Royal Navy

For more information about Actors in World War II see:

International Stars at War by Scott Baron The last in a popular series on movie stars in the
military, this handsome book provides readers with a guide to film actors of many nations
who served in various branches of their own military forces. Because they appeared in
Hollywood movies, many of these figures will be familiar to Americans.
Most of them date their service to World War II. Among the
more than sixty stars featured are UK actors Richard Attenborough, Richard Burton, Michael
Caine, Royal Navy gunner Sean Connery, Alex Guinness, Rex Harrison, Anthony Hopkins (who
spent a year with the Royal Artillery during the Cold War), Ray Milland, Roger Moore (a
first lieutenant with the British Army in occupied West Germany after WWII), David Niven,
Michael Rennie, and Peter Ustinov. Those from Canada include Lorne Greene, Raymond Massey,
and Walter Pidgeon. The Frenchmen include Maurice Chevalier and Charles Boyer. Also
featured are Laurence Harvey of South Africa, Peter Finch of Australia, Oskar Werner of
Germany, Toshiro Mifune of Japan, and Audrey Hepburn, who as a child was a courier for
World War II resistance fighters in Holland. Hardcover: 264 pages ; Dimensions (in inches): 1.09 x 9.24 x 6.18 Publisher: Naval Institute PressLearn more about International Stars at War ...

Stars at War
by Michael Munn
(out of print, used copies available online)

They Also Served: Military
Biographies of Uncommon Americansby Scott Baron
Over 500 condensed military biographies. Prominent in their fields, whether
it be law, medicine, or the arts, their one commonality is that when our
country called, they answered. Paperback: 320 pagesDimensions (in inches): 0.96 x 9.01 x 6.03Publisher: Military Information Enterprises; Learn more about
They Also Served

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